Throughout this semester, I have found that learning through the use of certain technological programs does not work for me. I have tried the different resources that this course has introduced me to, but unfortunately, I was not successful in using them. In my high school, we did not have access to a computer lab every day and we rarely used online programs to enhance our learning. One of my biggest struggles in college so far has been adjusting to all of my work being submitted online. I like the idea of utilizing technology in and out of the classroom to further our education, but I have not yet found a program that fits with my learning style.
The most consistent challenge in my learning this semester was finding a course that I truly enjoyed. Learning material that I am not particularly interested in makes enjoying a class very difficult for me. My most difficult classes were my soil science class and this class. Soil science was hard because there is a lot of chemistry involved with the subject. This class was difficult for me because I felt like everyone was confused on what we were supposed to be doing throughout the semester. I am terrible with learning how to use technology as a resource for learning, which also made this class rather difficult. I was never sure where to find our assignments on the website and I had other students help me create links so that my individual and group work could be uploaded. I tried using Evernote because I liked the idea of the notebooks. However, I quickly found that I my organization was a disaster. I tried different ways to organize my notes and ideas, but nothing seemed to work for me. I am the type of learner who uses different colored pens in my notes and draws arrows to different ideas that relate. I felt that I could not understand my notes as well because they were not written in my own handwriting. I also cannot read from a screen for long periods of time without getting headaches, so studying and trying to learn using online technologies does not work for me. I will be honest and say that I did not know how to take notes for this class. We rarely discussed the books we read and because of that I feel that it was difficult for me to relate them to our assignments.
One strategy that I developed not only this semester but also last year to deepen my learning from what I did in high school is to apply what I am learning to the real world. For me, this is easiest to do with my science classes because it is something that I am passionate about. In high school I was a surface learner and just memorized facts. In college, I realized that everything I was learning could be applied to my daily life. Suddenly everything I ever learned in my environmental classes made sense. As I started paying attention to the information I was given, I began exploring the different ways it related to other environmental topics. Nature is one big system that with smaller parts that all act on each other. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Now every time I walk outside I feel like I understand why our ecosystem looks the way it does. My strategy was simply thinking outside the box and noticing how the information I was learning was something that I could see every single day just outside my window. Unfortunately, my LRKB did not contribute to this strategy.
I also found that writing out my notes in black pen and going back and writing in side notes in a colored pen helps me to visually see what it is I am learning. The main notes are in black, and my ideas, connections, and questions are written in a different color. When I go back into my notes to study, I can review the notes that I wrote in the colored pen, which often helps me to connect multiple topics together. This strategy will help me in my future courses because as I continue to take notes in this way, I can go back into old notebooks and see how a new idea or topic ties into what I learned in previous courses. This strategy seems like it would be difficult and time consuming, but I also use colored sticky notes to organize my ideas and to mark where important information is located in my science notebooks and textbooks. For me, the physical page markers help me much more than an online tag or theme.
It is unfortunate that my learning style is not extremely flexible. I wish Evernote and the other tools we were introduced to in class were helpful for me because they are great resources. It is hard for me to break my organization and learning techniques because they work for me. I wish I was able to utilize my LRKB to the full extent, but I found it difficult to do it through the use of Evernote. My notes and page markers worked much better for me. If I was introduced to programs such as Evernote in middle and high school, I feel that I would have been more adaptable to college and the technologies that professors are using in their classrooms.
The most consistent challenge in my learning this semester was finding a course that I truly enjoyed. Learning material that I am not particularly interested in makes enjoying a class very difficult for me. My most difficult classes were my soil science class and this class. Soil science was hard because there is a lot of chemistry involved with the subject. This class was difficult for me because I felt like everyone was confused on what we were supposed to be doing throughout the semester. I am terrible with learning how to use technology as a resource for learning, which also made this class rather difficult. I was never sure where to find our assignments on the website and I had other students help me create links so that my individual and group work could be uploaded. I tried using Evernote because I liked the idea of the notebooks. However, I quickly found that I my organization was a disaster. I tried different ways to organize my notes and ideas, but nothing seemed to work for me. I am the type of learner who uses different colored pens in my notes and draws arrows to different ideas that relate. I felt that I could not understand my notes as well because they were not written in my own handwriting. I also cannot read from a screen for long periods of time without getting headaches, so studying and trying to learn using online technologies does not work for me. I will be honest and say that I did not know how to take notes for this class. We rarely discussed the books we read and because of that I feel that it was difficult for me to relate them to our assignments.
One strategy that I developed not only this semester but also last year to deepen my learning from what I did in high school is to apply what I am learning to the real world. For me, this is easiest to do with my science classes because it is something that I am passionate about. In high school I was a surface learner and just memorized facts. In college, I realized that everything I was learning could be applied to my daily life. Suddenly everything I ever learned in my environmental classes made sense. As I started paying attention to the information I was given, I began exploring the different ways it related to other environmental topics. Nature is one big system that with smaller parts that all act on each other. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Now every time I walk outside I feel like I understand why our ecosystem looks the way it does. My strategy was simply thinking outside the box and noticing how the information I was learning was something that I could see every single day just outside my window. Unfortunately, my LRKB did not contribute to this strategy.
I also found that writing out my notes in black pen and going back and writing in side notes in a colored pen helps me to visually see what it is I am learning. The main notes are in black, and my ideas, connections, and questions are written in a different color. When I go back into my notes to study, I can review the notes that I wrote in the colored pen, which often helps me to connect multiple topics together. This strategy will help me in my future courses because as I continue to take notes in this way, I can go back into old notebooks and see how a new idea or topic ties into what I learned in previous courses. This strategy seems like it would be difficult and time consuming, but I also use colored sticky notes to organize my ideas and to mark where important information is located in my science notebooks and textbooks. For me, the physical page markers help me much more than an online tag or theme.
It is unfortunate that my learning style is not extremely flexible. I wish Evernote and the other tools we were introduced to in class were helpful for me because they are great resources. It is hard for me to break my organization and learning techniques because they work for me. I wish I was able to utilize my LRKB to the full extent, but I found it difficult to do it through the use of Evernote. My notes and page markers worked much better for me. If I was introduced to programs such as Evernote in middle and high school, I feel that I would have been more adaptable to college and the technologies that professors are using in their classrooms.